A WhiteBox

I've had it. I really have. While hacking Dark Autumn's CSS to support Internet Explorer 6, I couldn't stop wondering why I was doing it. I am not working on a client's design that bizarrely required IE6 support. Nor am I attempting to make my work comply with something that remotely supports any standard other than Microsoft's ever-changing one. I am just making a free Habari theme that I humbly donate to the public. So why should I bother spending my time begging for that history of a browser to properly display my --allegedly-- standard-complaint CSS? Wouldn't it be better if I spend that time working on another theme that I can too donate to the public?

I am not going to repeat what the many designers and bloggers who abandoned supporting IE6 had to say. Unless you've been under a rock or you don't really follow what goes on in the web design part of the "blogsphere", you probably already heard similar rants from Dan Rubin, Alan & Steve and many others.

Internet Explorer 7 has already been around for quite sometime now. Internet Explorer 8 is on the horizon. So why do some still use IE6? Do you really prefer the loads of open windows over tabs? Do you really like fact that you are the most vulnerable to malware?

If you really are an IE fan, that's not problem. Do exactly what you do with your other software; upgrade. Otherwise, there is Firefox, Safari, Opera and tons of others. Make you pick.

I am fully aware that many companies and corporations are still forcing their employees to use IE6. If for one reason or another your IT staff cannot/will not upgrade you, ask them to install another browser for you. If they are dumb enough to think that IE6 is really the corporate-grade browser, then maybe it's time to write that memo.

Good bye IE6. It's been an unpleasant experience.